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Paintings by Kim Webster are displayed at The Daily Times Community Center

By Hannah Grover The Daily Times

Updated:
06/12/2013 07:23:33 PM MDT

"Girl With a Blue Horse," a painting by Kim Webster is displayed at The Daily Times. (The Daily Times)

"San Juan River Bluffs," a painting by Kim Webster, is on display at The Daily Times. (The Daily Times )

IF YOU GO

What: Kim Webster art exhibit

When: Reception from 5 to 7 p.m. on Friday

Where: The Daily Times, 201 N. Allen Ave. in Farmington

More info: Call 505-564-4652

FARMINGTON — If artist Kim Webster is going somewhere with lots of people, he takes along a camera and shoots photos. He later uses those photos to paint pictures.

Webster, an Aztec resident, will be displaying his paintings at The Daily Times Community Center through July 1. An opening reception will be held Friday in conjunction with the Summer Art Walk.

Webster grew up in a family of artists and attended Kansas University, where he studied art.

"If I'm not painting, I have to be doing something creative," Webster said.

In addition to painting, he shoots photos and writes stories.

After he finishes a painting, Webster will often put it away for a few days and not look at it.

"Sometimes, I can't tell how good it is until I put it away for a while," Webster said.

One of the paintings he came to appreciate after not looking at it for a whole was "Girl With A Blue Horse."

About five years before Webster started painting the picture, he took a photograph of the girl with a large black horse at the Renaissance Faire in Farmington. But it took him years before he felt advanced enough to paint the image.

What made the painting so hard was the back light and the black horse, Webster said. With a black horse, a lot of the shapes become harder to see. Webster said he painted the horse blue to avoid those very problems.

"If I had the money to travel, I'd like to get around and paint portraits of exotic people," Webster said.

He said he would visit India, Bali and Peru.

Webster said he prefers to paint portraits of people, rather than landscapes.

"There's a story there, a mystery behind them, that's not there with landscapes," Webster said.

Hannah Grover covers news, arts and religion for The Daily Times. She can be reached at 505-564-4652 and hgrover@daily-times.com. Follow her on Twitter @hmgrover

"Castles of the Moon" by Kim Webster is displayed at The Daily Times (The Daily Times)

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